Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-05-27

- ~" AOths uuu Oeen Suck N hospital
at New Orleans. He came up the river
just in time to head brigade in the as.
sau!t of that day. He was near the enemv's
works, and had turned round to give an
order. A ball severed his spine, passing
OUT over the hip. He fingered four days
WIN his lower extremities paralyzed, and
then was mercifully permitted to die.
AZ bisland, while we were supporting q
battery. man was brought back, sup
ported BY two others, and stopped by nv
company long enough to get drink from
somebody's canteen. I asked where he
was wounded; they raised his arm, and
exhibited CHASTITY sheil-wound, torn
through his body. He lived m hour, and
the only wonder to me wes that he could
live minute.
At the battle of Winchester CAPTAIN w.
II. Longwell, of my regiment, was severely
wounded in tie hip by bullet. He wore
steel scabbard for his sword. and before
touching him the bullet passed through
til g scabbard, cutting it through in one
half its width.
heard Of soldier at Port Hudson who
observed cannon-b ball from the cnemy's
batteries rolling along tho ground, with it's
force apparently spent. 1t came his way,
and he was SO foolish as to reach out his
foot and try to stop 1t. Tho result satisfied
his curiosity and taught him something
about the law of proiectiles that he did not
know before. His foot was smashed and
had to be amputated.
General L. w. Sherman-aot Tecumseh
who lost leg before Port Hudson, was
an old army man and an original character.
did not mean to admit anything joval into
this sketch, but, after all these horrors, the
anecdcto, which is perfectly true, may re-
lieve the somber picture little.
Before the first assault, he wanted to To-
cate the exact position of one of the enemy's
batteries, and the following was the COL
loquy that passed between him and his
aid:
General Lieutenant you ride out there
thirty yards or SO in front. want to find
out where that gun is.
Lieutenant DO you mean, sir, for me to
keep on TIL can see il?
General-Certainly not; they'd capture
you.
Lieutenant how shall I discover
where the gun is?
General-After you get out there piece,
they'll fire at you. But they won't hit you:
and l shall see where they are.
The Lieutenant went, for he knew that
his chief was perfectly serious about it, and
everything turned out just as tho General
had predicted. But the aid said after
ward, in telling the incident, that it smacked
almost too much of Regular army, o." to
suit him.
Cases of extreme mutilation by wounds
We're not rare, although not largely noticed.
The fact that the late General Paul lost
both eyes at Gettysburg is familiar; the
fact that no small number of enlisted men
suffered in the same way during the war is
not so Well known.
At Albany, just after the close of the
war, met soldier with both arms Off,
who had a comrade constantly attending
him. was at once reminded that in one
OF our Western Louisiana battles an artil-
lerist on our side suffered the same irrep-
arabic loss.
Cases where the sufferers recovered after
the dreadful operation OF removing the arm
at the shoulder joint were few, but they
were known. found Leutenantin COM
mand Of Fort Saratoga in the defenses of
Washington, in the spring of 1865, IN that
condition.
Two soldiers, ct least, within my own
knowledge came out of the war without
legs.
know men who are wearing silver plates
where their skull bones were torn off; /
know others, apparently in good health,
whose chests are only held together by steel
corsets. The extent of ON injury from
powder and iron which man may not sur
vive has never yet been discovered.
Sometimes the wound, or the way it was
received, was positively grotesque to those
who observed it-not often to him who re-
ceived it.
Abram Chappcll, of my company, in the
rifle pit one night before Port Hudson, had
just projected his musket through the small
aperture cut in the top log for that purpose.
Before he could fire, bullet entered the
hole passed down the barrel of his gun,
cutting of both bands, and then through
the palm of his hand. 1t was hardly a
chance shot; sharpshooting was reduced to
science in that situation.
And sometimes death was terrible, be-
cause entirely unexpected.
A few days before the surrender of Port
Hudson, William Lipples and A1orel Stur-
ges, of our Company !, were in ravine,
off duty-a place which any one would have
said was as safe as bomb proof. A solid
shot dropped in upon them, taking off both
legs of Lipples, and breaking a thigh OF
Sturges. The former died in two hours,
the latter fingered after amputation. and ex-
pired in few days.
General Sherman was right. "War is
cruelty, and you cannot refine it,. r.
Fits, in Chicago Ledger.